Gurgaon sewage: 63 MLD bypassed treatment plants, CAG finds

Sixty-three million litres of sewage a day did not reach Gurgaon’s treatment plants in March 2024, according to a CAG audit.

Areas under GMDA generated 550 MLD of domestic sewage. Colonisers treated and reused 90 MLD on their own premises, leaving 460 MLD for the government system. GMDA had 415 MLD of installed treatment capacity across 12 plants, but the plants received an average of 397 MLD. The audit calculated that 63 MLD, or 14% of the sewage requiring treatment, remained outside the system.

GMDA has prepared an action plan after a survey involving MCG, HSVP, HSIIDC, PHED and HSPCB. It aims to create 977 MLD of treatment capacity by December 2028. Water-governance expert Fawzia Tarannum said additional plants would be underused unless sewer connections and pumping infrastructure were expanded alongside them.

At Jahajgarh, a 20 MLD plant approved in March 2020 received only 5 MLD because sewer infrastructure was incomplete. The audit said that ₹18.67 crore spent on the project remained largely idle.

The audit also recorded biochemical oxygen demand above prescribed limits in the three main drains carrying Gurgaon’s wastewater towards the Yamuna. Only 12 of the city’s 16 sewage treatment plants met prescribed wastewater-discharge norms.